In the Shadow of the Moon (David Sington, 2007): UK

Reviewed by William Conlin. Viewed on DVD.

For thousands of years, humanity looked into the night sky and wondered what it would be like to visit another world. Visiting our Moon was thought to be a voyage meant only for the divine. In the Shadow of the Moon is the amazing story of the men who made that dream a reality just 40 years ago.

Through the voices of the astronauts themselves, we are taken on a journey from conception to planning, training, liftoff, landing and home again. By using original footage, photographs, television and radio broadcasts, the look and feel of the Space Race is presented with extremely thorough accuracy.

I love everything about this film. By using the astronauts themselves for the narration, director David Sington lets us hear every emotion from the men who were actually there. By using nothing but real footage we feel like a person experiencing the moon landings for the first time. The cinematographer Clive North brilliantly captures the chiseled faces of these American heroes as they tell their stories and editor David Fairhead wonderfully juxtaposes their faces with footage of them as young men.

This film not only captures the drama in space, but shows us all the action on the ground as well, from John F. Kennedy’s dreams for the future to Richard Nixon’s paranoia over failure. We see Walter Cronkite’s joy at the sight of Neil Armstrong’s moonwalk and the sorrow over the deaths of the Apollo I crew. During the missions we see silent film footage of the Control Room synced with radio broadcasts for the first time, letting us see and hear conversations spanning 250 thousand miles.

Overall, I find this film to be a complete success. It reminds us of a time when space wasn’t just another part of our lives. It reminds us of the passion and the fortitude it took to make that journey and most of all, it reminds us that no matter how high we set our goals, we can achieve them.

DVD extras: Filmmaker Commentary, Bonus Interviews, Scoring Apollo, Ron Howard: Inspired By Apollo, and Theatrical Trailer